Process of cracking and distilling oil



1. T. FENTON. PROCESS 0F CRACKING AND DISULLING 0H..

`APPLICATION FILED HAY 1. |920.

2 SHEETSf-SHEE I.

patented oct. 18,1921.l

N mw J. T. FENTON.

PROCESS 0F CHAGKING AND DISTILU'NG OIL.

APPLICATION mio MV1. 1920.

1,394,481, Patented oct. 18, 1921.

I UNITED STATES W rari-:NT oF-FICE.-

JAMES T. BENTON, 0F SAII'AI?r LAKE CITY, UTAH.

PROCESS 0F CRACKING AND DISTILLING OIL.

Specication ot Letters Patent.

p Patented Oct. 18, 1921.

Application filed lay 1, 1920. Serial No. 378,216.

tion is applicable to the treatment of vari-- ous kinds of oils, eithermineral oils containing paraifins alone or those containing paraffinsand other bodies, such as asphalts, or oils containing aromaticsubstances, such as crude creosote, crude naphthalenes, etc., for theproduction of benzene (CeI-I, which latter substance is to be clearlydistinguished from benzin, a product of petroleum). p

In the system of cracking or breaking up the molecular structures ofvarious organic substances (contrary to most of the accepted principlesof the processes heretofore proposed), the 'cracking or breaking up isnot produced by keeping the material to be cracked, and the cracking ordistilling medium apart, but in this system the cracking and distillingmedium, superheated steain, is mixed directly with the material to becracked and distilled and kept in a state of constant motion andagitation, so that in passing through the various portions of theapparatus, the heat of the steam is brought into more intimate contact-With the oil un# der treatment, and the effectiveness of the heatsupplied is very greatly enhanced. l In the system, the production ofcoke is entirel eradicated, there being no coke and no vree carbonproduced at any stage of thev process, since the oil and the steam aremaintained in a constant state of agitation, whereby no destructivedistillation can be produced.

A feature of great importance in connection with the process is thatthrough the interaction of the steam and the oil, such contents of crudeoil as the natural aromatic gums, etc., will be effectively separatedfrom the lighter fractions (for example gasolene) slnce the formeroccupies a point of condensation far above that of the gasolene. Fromthis it follows that the gasolenes produced in accordance with myinvention will' require practically no refining, and hence the expenseof refining and the refining loss are both avoided.

Another important feature of the invention is that the oils are crackedand distilled in their entirety and instantaneously, ex cept the heavyportions of the oil, such as paraiiin wax, cylinder stock, etc., whichit is desired not to crack.

Apparatus in accordance with the present invention is illustrateddiagrammatically in the annexed drawings forming a art of thisspecification, but it is to be un erst/ood that these drawings show onemodification only, and that the invention is not limited to theparticular embodiment of the vinvention illustrated in the drawings.

In said drawings, Figure 1 shows a dia# grammatic side elevation (partsin section) of an entire apparatus suitable for use in the presentprocess. Fig. 2 shows, ona somewhat larger scale, the preferredconstruction of the crackingl chambers, ,'and

their connections.

Fig. 3 is a cross section of the chamber, showing the spiral vanes, andF'g. 4 is a detail view.

Referring more particularly to the detailed construction shown in thedrawings, oil`is introduced through the oil feed pipe 10 into apreheater 11, in which lthe o1l is warmed up, but not vaporized. Thewarm oil passes throughpipe 12 into a mixer 13, which it will be notedis in the form of an injector, high temperature superheated steam beingintroduced through piped/1. The mixture of oil and superheated steampass through the pipe 15 into the first cracking chamber 16 in which theoil is instantaneously vaporized, or vaporized all except the heaviestconstituents, which as above noted, it is desired not to crack. From thefirst cracking chamber the vaporized oil, together with unvaporizedfractions, pass through pipe 17 into the mixer 18, where it is againmixed with high pressure superheated steam. from the pipe 19. Themixture flows through pipe 20 lnto a second cracking chamber 21, inwhich the cracking operation is completed. The resulting gases andvapors flow through pipe 22 into the settling and separating tank 23where they are expanded. A baille 24 is preferably located a' shortdistance in front of the outlet of the pipe 22, in order tothorresponding acid products.

oughl mix and commingle the vapors and in or er to assist in theseparation of the heavy constituents of the oil, which are not to becracked.

The heavy-.constituents are drawn of in liquid form-- through the valvedvoutlet trap 25 and the remaining gases and vapors pass off throng pipe26, into a series of condensers 2 28, 29 and 30,` in which' the variousgrades of oil condense, the least volatile portion condensing in thecondenser 27, another portion, saylight spindle oils collecting inthecondenser 28, kerosene condensing in lthe condenser 29 and gasolene`condensing in the condenser 30. The resulting gases containing lightvapors then pass to a rhigolene condenser 31, in which the gases andvapprs are preferably cooled to such as extent as to\condense therhigolene. The remaining gases and vapors containin substantial amountsof ethylene and other ydrocarbons of the olefin series `ass off throughthepipe 32 into the sul uric acid absorbers 33, in which the ethylene isconverted into etlwl sulfuric acid, and other gaseous olefins areconverted into the cor- The vapors issuing at 34 may then be compressedand cooled. for the purpose of collecting cvmogene.

In the above example, I have described particularly the treatment of apetroleum oil, but I wish it to be understood that 1u place of a crudepetroleum, a petroleum distillate can be employed for example kerosene,solar oil, gas oil or the like, and if desired, also crude creosotes orcrude naph- Y thalenes may likewise be treated for the production ofbenzols CI-I, and other aromatics.

By referring to Figs. 2 and 3, it will be noted that the crackingreceptacle 16 is provided with a heavy heat insulating layer 36,

and that inside of this receptacle there is provided if desired a vaneor ridge 38 of any desired height, for the purpose of giving a whirlingmotion to the gases and vapors therein. While itis not absolutelynecessary that such vane or projection be provided, it is advisable toprovide the same in order to more thoroughly mix and commingle the oilvapor and superheated steam.

i The superheated steam supplied by pipes 14 and 19 is under highpressure and is highly superheated, in order to produce and main- 1 tainthe necessary heat and pressure in the cracking retorts.

The entire cracking operation is carried out under a superatmosphericpressure and at a high temperature. The temperature in the firstcracking chamber may be from 500 to 700 F., and the temperature in thesecond may be from 700 to 1000 -F., and the pressure in the firstchamber may be ,from 20 to 50 pounds per chamber may and in the secondcracking be from v50 to 80 pounds per Square inch. Each particular gradeof o l is best treated at a particular temperature, which is found inpractice to be most advantageous for that particular grade of oil toproduce just the desired extent of crack ing and no more.

The pressure and temperature are mam'- tained at the point necessarywith each particular oil to regulate and control the de gree ofcracking. Accordin ly, it is not possible to give any articu arstatements of exact pressure an temperatures to be em loyed.

t is to be noted that al1 of the heat and all of the pressure aresupplied by means of the superheated steam introduced through the pipes14 and 19, and itis not necessary to pass the oil vapor or theoil whileundergoin decomposition through coils or chambers located 1n furnaceswhich operation has been heretofore usually considered essential in oilcracking, and this has been open to the objections of producingconsiderab e quantities of coke or hard carsquare inch,

bon, by a far-reaching cracking operation..

Such production of coke is entirely avoided in the present case, byavoidin the unnecessary high heats and the val able portions of the oilunder treatment which would be. cracked in this manner are therebysaved.

The oil preheater 11 may in some cases be dispensed with. However, Ifind it advisable to preheat the oil to a temperature of, say, 100 to150 C., or in any event, to not over 175 to 200 C., before the same isfirst treated with the superheated steam. operation is for the purposeof imparting some heat to the oil without any danger of cracking beforethe same enters the process. The oil entering pipe 12 may jbe at aboutatmospheric pressure or a slight pressure may exist due to the head ofoil coming from the oil tank which may be located at a higher level.This amount of pressure, however, is negligible and may be disregardedfor the purpose of the present invention.

In connection withthe advantages of the system of cracking oil, ashereinabove described, I call attention to the feature that This all ofthe oil cracking is produced simulnumerous roposed in which the crackingis produced ractionally or in a' number of successive stages. Also it isparticularly7 upon a crude oil or an oil left a ter distilling olf someofthe lighter fractions, it is advisable not to crack the cylinderstock, which is of much greater value than gasolene. In ordinarycracking of petroleum oils, in accordance with the presentdnv'ention theidea isA to produce as much as postaneously as distinguished from )riorprocesses which have been noted that-in o erating `sible2 of thegasolene or petroleum ether lother portions of the apparatus.

fractions with' the production of a minimum of the other materialspresent.

t A further adyantage to be noted is that' the apparatus does not haveto be operated continuously to prevent freezing vup, since there are noaccumulations of heavy materials to freeze up in the plant if allowedto' the rocess it is necgoA cold. F or stoppin Hg the eed of oil, allowessary onl to shut o then be cut oir and the plant allowed to cool.

Similarly, in starting operations, it is nec essary'only to blow steamthroughtthe ap paratus for a short time in order to preheat ity and thenafter the workin temperature has been reached, turn on t e oil feed andthe c cking operation begins at once, thereby it being readily posslble,starting from a cold ap aratus, to have the'cracking process undgr wayat full capacity in from 20 to 30 minutes.

A feature of importance is the instant and absolute /control oftheratios of steam and oil, depending upon the particular` kind of oiltreated. l v

The process involves the law which may be expressed as follows theboiling point of mixed liquids which do not dissolve in each other isdetermined by their combined-vapor pressures. When the combined vaporpres?l sures is equal to the external pressure both li uids willdisti'l."7

t is advisable, as shown in Fig. 2 of the drawing, to make the rear endsof the chambers (orthe ends opposite to the intake of the va r to thechambers) renewable, since the friction ofthe oil vapor and steampounding against `these bottoms mavwear out the same in a relativelyshort time, or much before the normal wearing out of the It is, in manycases, also advisable to place the bafiie plate 40` in each of thesechambers as` illustrated in Fig. 2,l so that the vapors and gases willimpinge upon this baile plate 40 which may be readily renewable., Ifdesired, the`bale plate 40 may be given any desired shape in order toproduce a rotary or whirling action of the gases and vapors in thechambers, so as to produce more complete mixing. For this purpose, aplate with a spirally grooved cone center may be useful, as shown at 40in Figs. 3 and 4.

.I have above referred to, the absenceiof extraneous heating by furnacesand the like, such las common in the prior patents, which have beenissued in vthis art.

The ethylene sulfuric acid produced in the sulfuric acid absorption aparatus as well as the other members of tlils series can be used for theproduction of alcohols, Aby appropriate treatment withwater, so thatal-` low through the ap aratus for' a few 'minutes andthe whole p antwill be'r clear and clean and the iowof steam canr lcohol may constituteahy-product of ther process.

I desire to call particular attention to the i fact that in my process,it is advisable to vso adjust the temperature, pressure, proparaiiinandlgasolene.'4 In the drawing, I have shown four conthe productswhichat the present time are v Yofflow value, relatively to the cylinderoil,

dansers, 27, 28, 29 and 30.` It is, of course, to u be understood thatthe number of condensersl may be greatly increased, if desired, thus forexample, instead of using four only, I might employ ten or morel of suchcondensers, depending upon the number of se arate products which are tobe recovered rom a given treatment. The temperature of the severalcondensers will be controlled by suitable cooling baths, so that theroducts condensed therein will, usually wit out further refining, besuitable for placing on the market.

n a modified form of operation, the temperatures employed in the varioussteps of the process may be so adjusted that the operations which go onwill be principally dis- Itilling, without any substantial amount ofcracking. For' this, low temperatures will usually be employed in thevessels 16 and 21.

No claim is made herein to the apparatus hereinbefore described andshown in the accompanying drawings as claims thereto are made in mapplication for Patent No.

'438,977,61e Jan. 21, 1921.

I claim: 1. The hereinbefore described process of treating oils whichconsists in cracking or disrupting thd molecular structure of the oilsby heat supplied solely .by the direct contact of super cated steamunder ressure with said oils while in a subdivi ed and agitatedcondition and while continuously flowing from a source of supply towarda condenser; so controlling the heat and pressure of the superheatedsteam as to crack a portion of the constituents o f the oil, passing thecrackedand uncracked constituents to a se arator, there expanding andseparating sa1d constituents, drawing oil' the heavier fractions, andthen' progressively condensing the lighter fractions of the roduct.

2. The rocess hereinbefore with superheated steam 'under pressure,subescribed of Itreating oils which consists in mixing the oil dividingand agitating the oil while in direct contact with the steam andwhileunder pressure in a cracking chamber, passing all of the productsof the first chamber to a similar second chamber, there subjecting thecontents of the second chamber to the direct action of a second supplyof steam at :i higher temperature and vunder greater pressure, arisingthe oil and steam to flow continuously from a source of supply toward acondenser. so controlling the heat and pres sure of the steam as tocrack a portion of the constituents of the oil, passing all of theconstituents to a; separator, there expanding and separating theuncracked constituents from the others, and then condensing the lighterfractions of the product; the heat and pressure for the crackingoperation bcing supplied solely by the superheatcd steam underpressu1c,substantially as described.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name.

JAMS T. VFEN'ro-N.

